Can ARM succeed in the entry-level server space?

by Tarinder Sandhu, HEXUS.net May 6, 2014

ARM is best known as the company behind the CPU architecture that powers the vast majority of the world's smartphones and tablets. This is because ARM's reduced instruction-set computing (Risc) architecture, which uses small, optimised instructions, is an ideal fit for energy-efficient processing - a must for mobile devices. Though ideally designed for mobile, there are now compelling reasons why ARM's instruction-set architecture can be used for a number of server/datacentre applications.

The backbone of ARM's appeal in the entry-level server space stems from the introduction of the ARMv8-A Architecture, announced in October 2011 and now implemented in high-end processors such as the Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53. ARMv8-A's standout feature is 64-bit support, known as AArch64, though supporting hardware can also process 32-bit instructions. Want to play in server? You absolutely need 64-bit hardware and software support.